Does Grammarly Reinforce Imposter Syndrome?

Imposter Syndrome is genuine and an extreme force for someone who suffers from it. Perceived fraudulence is another term for it, the inability to believe success has come from their own ability or efforts.

It is not debilitating, it is more a case of understanding what it is, understanding when it is holding you back and moving forward, embracing it.

I have been surprised and amazed at everyone’s feedback about my articles and my writing style.

Honestly, I am not good at English. I am constantly afraid of using long words or ‘sayings’ if I get them wrong, and I will get embarrassed. I received an average level pass at school for English with a significantly below-average amount of time invested.

I reuse the exact words over and over and over again; maybe you can tell. People associate me with comments and how I phrase them wrong.

Which is nice if people are talking about me if I am not there, right?

When I feel my ears burning, I presume it’s because someone copied one of my many speech impediments, and then they thought of me or told a funny story about my incompetence.

Grammarly and imposter syndrome

Grammarly is fantastic; there is no denying it. But when all these people who didn’t know I had it within myself started complimenting me on my grammar and arrangement of paragraphs and punctuation.

It doesn’t feel like me.

It is an algorithm, AI or a bot, I’m not sure how it works, and I haven’t researched it as I don’t need to know how it works. Happy for you guys to explore it and tell me. I enjoy learning. Is that a contradiction? Who knows.

Imposter syndrome
I first heard of Imposter Syndrome a few weeks ago when watching a self-help course with Mel Robbins, how to break the habit of self-doubt and build real confidence. If you haven’t watched it as a creator or heard of Mel Robbins. She is fucking fantastic. And I don’t swear lightly. Look into her.

The way she gets to the point, has her own personal view on problems and how she has managed to bring herself back from some difficult times is a credit to her and how she can stand up in front of tens of thousands of people and deliver what she delivers is impressive. Enough unadulterated praise for now, but I will no doubt mention her again in the future.

Imposter Syndrome is:

• Convinced you are faking your way through your accomplishments
• Feeling like you don’t deserve success
• Live in fear that someone may call you out on your perceived failings

I have felt, on occasion, that I have been faking it.

I can turn my hand to almost anything. And anything I can’t. I research, read what I can on the subject, learn, and ensure I don’t fail. If there is a chance I will fail, I won’t take it. The fear of failure is crippling for me. Yet again, another story.

I have taken on big jobs and large contracts in the past, believing in myself to achieve them. Still, when I have completed them, I am the first person out of there, to take the money and run. Not because I have done a lousy job but because I don’t feel I have the qualification or the ‘experience’.

In turn, I tend to charge less, the feeling being that if they aren’t happy, then because I billed them less, I can get away with it, and they will accept my sloppy work as they should have expected.

This is delusional because I don’t do a poor job. My standards are too high. For example, imagine going to a reputable carpenter. You want another set of built-in storage cupboards added to another bedroom, the same as the chippy has done previously.

They charge you 50% less than before, and alarm bells go off, but money is a bit tight this month, so you’ll take it. However, once the job has been completed, its shambles. Splinters are everywhere, and there are bent nails at children’s height; you cut your hand just looking at it. You aren’t going to be happy that just because they charged you less, you expected a significantly poorer job.

Am I going to be found out?
Using Grammarly has excellent benefits, but it reinforces the feeling that I will be found out soon. The idea is that some people would discredit my content because I wasn’t going to put a comma where the all-powerful Grammarly has suggested. It is a ridiculous notion, but it is worth being fully aware of when beholden to Imposter Syndrome.

If I published two articles, identical apart from one would be edited by Grammarly and the other by myself. I can guarantee that one will be harder to read, and you don’t need to be told which one it will be.

I will not stop using Grammarly, I don’t have the cojones or skill, but I guess this is my confession that maybe, my articles are better, and I will get more reads and get more praise from my friends and peers online when I use Grammarly.